How worried should I be? 2 year old blood tests

[Roo17]

Hi.

First time posting in quite some time. Not looking for medical advice as you’ll see I’ve got that side of things covered, more looking for some support or hearing from anyone in similar situation.

My DS2 has had a terrible time health wise since about February he’s had tonsillitis 5 times, scarlet fever and chicken pox. I requested he was seen by ENT which is due to happen next week.
I had him at docs on Friday as he’s had a cough for about 3 weeks which hasn’t got any better and he’d started pulling at his ear, being very irritable - even for a 2 year old and had went off his food a little bit. I was thinking it was his throat again. Doc said his ear did look very red and prescribed an antibiotic but she was more concerned about other stuff.

She pointed out a bruise above his hip when she was listening to his chest. He’s such an active wee boy who thinks he’s the same age as DS1 and can do the same stuff so he’s always jumping off something or banging into to something else. Boys share a room and little one has taken to jumping between the beds. I’d seen the bruise whilst getting him ready and whilst I thought ouch how have you done that thinking it was the beds I didn’t think too much of it.

Doc asked if he had anymore, his legs have loads so I showed her but I didn’t think they were any worse than typical toddler stuff. She said she was concerned about the unusual pattern of bruising - it really does look horrible and the number of infections he’s had. She’s referred him urgently to paediatrics for blood tests.

Thing is I’m not daft and I know what she’s trying to rule out. Just hate being in limbo and its all I can think about. My DH obviously knows but he doesn’t like to talk about worries. He closes them off til they have to be dealt with. MIL and my mum both have enough on so don’t want to worry them if it’s all nothing.

Try thinking of it as them ruling out the worst possibly situation first, rather than thinking that's what it is. In the meantime try to distract yourself, and stay away from Dr Google. Do you have a close friend you can share your worries with? Sometimes just sharing our fears helps them feel less overwhelming.

Thank for your response. I know rationally that’s definitely the right mentality and there’s no point borrowing trouble but can’t help where the mind wanders.

Totally sensible to rule things out. The issues you've outlined could easily just be coincidence - scarlet fever, chicken pox and bruised legs are hardly uncommon. That said, it's good that the doctor's taking it seriously, and can hopefully put your mind to rest.

Read up on catastophising - I've spent most my life doing this and it's robbed me of so much joy. No one truly knows what the future holds, but I think your husband is right to focus on what you can control, rather than worrying about what you can't.

I'm not going to pretend I'm all zen, and I do still find myself worrying, but I try and focus as much as I can on the here and now.

We found ourselves in the exact same situation.
At 2 she had chicken pox twice, a really bad case of hand foot and mouth, Scarlett fever and was covered in bruises and complaining of leg pain.

Our GP took bloods the day we went and they came back normal. The theory the GP went with was her immune system was lowered and energy reserves sapped after one or two of the normal childhood infections, that it let the others take hold easier. She’s normally healthy and the bruises were just childhood bruises from playing and falling. Her legs hurting were just normal growing pains mixed in with a typical toddler not wanting to walk. Since that year she’s rarely been ill; seems she got them all out the way in one go

Sending a hand hold. Try not to think the worst and get ahead of yourself.

Last year, DT2 saw an opthalmologist for the first time who immediately said he needed a brain MRI. He explained he believed DT2 had a specific condition which is scary and would explain all the issues he’s had from birth. From that day I started to accept he had it because it would explain everything... but he doesn’t have it.

Months later his paed had done a load of blood tests and the test for one specific genetic test was still outstanding when we got a call asking for both of us to go in and see her the next week. We immediately thought shit, he must have it... nope, the test hadn’t been done due to an admin error and she hadn’t noticed it was missing.

Just because hearing hooves usually means horses doesn’t mean it can’t be zebras (or nothing at all sometimes!).

I know the waiting is so hard. Hope you don’t have to wait too long.